Bacon, kumara and cheese pie

Tam West

The longest part of making this easy pie is dry-baking the kumara which will probably take an hour, (the oven does the work). This can be done in advance and once cooked, assembly of the pie is a breeze. I bought great red and green lettuces at the market to which I added halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and a well-seasoned vinaigrette made of extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar which was the salad I served with the pie.

Ingredients

2 large	Purple kumara, well scrubbed (Main)
500 g	Flaky pastry, made with butter (Main)
3 rashers	Bacon, rind cut off, bacon diced 2cm (Main)
2	Spring onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp	Chopped parsley
1 ½ cups	Grated tasty cheese
1	Egg, beaten

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line a flat baking tray with baking paper.
2. Put the kumara side by side in a dry ovenproof dish and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle goes in easily and the centre feels soft. Remove from the oven, cool, halve and peel. Mash the kumara roughly with a fork, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and reserve.
3. Halve the pastry and roll each half out on a lightly floured surface so you can cut a 25cm diameter disc out of one half and a 28cm diameter disc from the other.
4. Place the smaller disc on the paper-lined tray. Spread the cold kumara evenly over the disc but leave a 2cm border around the edge. Sprinkle the bacon, spring onions, parsley and cheese on top in that order.
5. Brush the border with beaten egg. Place the larger pastry circle on top and crimp the edges together with a fork or twist neatly to seal.
6. Brush the top of the pie with egg and cut four 4cm slits in the top to let the steam escape.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until well browned and cooked. Serve in wedges with a salad.

More recipes inspired by the Whangarei Grower's market

• Fried eggplant with lamb chops and skordalia with fresh herbs
• Berry and red wine tiramisu